


The Night Comes Down

by elemsee



Category: Anthem (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-01-12 04:37:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18439190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elemsee/pseuds/elemsee
Summary: Matthias' sudden disappearance during an expedition sends the Freelancer on an unexpected journey, which brings about some startling realisations for them both.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back, y'all! This time with some sweet multi chaptered goodness.
> 
> This is technically a sequel to my last Anthem fic, "The Weakness in Me", but it's not required reading as it'll be easy to follow this plot regardless. Enjoy!

The splashes of crimson painted all over the doorway and interior of the Strider made Felicity's already knotted stomach do a complete flip.

 

The Freelancer stole in a breath, and immediately she regretted it — the stale, metallic combination of blood and smoke in the air made her gag. She doubled over in a coughing fit, and it didn't take long for that to get her cypher's attention.

 

"Freelancer, are you alright?" came Faye's concerned voice.

 

Felicity spluttered a few more times, managing to find a break in there somewhere to choke out a response — "Yeah, fine" — before her lungs finally ceased their suffering. Slowly she straightened up, eyes scanning the area for anything. _Anyone_. It was a small enough space that she would've seen or heard someone by now if they'd been hiding, but she couldn't help but hope.

 

She'd been out for hours now, scouring different areas, desperate for a clue to fall into her lap. The burnt out Strider had so far been the biggest clue of all — but it was a clue that appeared to lead to an unhappy ending.

 

"If he's not here, there's still hope." To Faye's credit, she sounded like she believed her own words. Felicity wished she could believe them too. 

 

"So what you're saying is, since I'm not staring at his dead body right now, it means he's been kidnapped. Who knows, they might be torturing him as we speak. Sounds real hopeful to me."

 

"You're bloody grumpy today! I feel like I'm talking to Haluk."

 

Felicity scoffed. "Yeah, well, you'd be this cheerful too if you were on nineteen hours without sleep."

 

"You can't keep doing this to yourself, you know. Matthias wouldn't want that." Felicity didn't bother to respond, and the stubborn silence made Faye sigh. "Look, if they've taken him, it means he's a commodity, and that'll keep him alive. An arcanist isn't useful to anyone dead. Especially not an arcanist as good as Matthias."

 

"It's been a week," Felicity said flatly, idly flicking through a pile of papers that were strewn across the floor. Some of the pages were stuck together with a splatter of dried blood, and Felicity cringed. She was used to seeing blood, but the idea that it could be the blood of someone she cared about made her feel nauseous. "I don't know many life forms out here that have a week's worth of patience."

 

One week previously, Matthias had set out in search of a Shaper relic after receiving news from one of his contacts about the possibility of one in the nearby area. Never the kind of man to shy away from adventure, Matthias informed Felicity of his intentions, promising that he'd "be back in a couple of days". After radio silence for three days, Felicity attempted to contact him — and got no response. She knew him well enough to know that something was definitely wrong.

 

As she stood in the Strider doorway, Felicity silently berated herself for not trying to get in touch with Matthias sooner, wondering if she could have somehow prevented all of this. She felt terrified at the idea of losing him — especially since she was still reeling from losing Owen. It had been six weeks since Owen's departure, but she was still sore about the entire debacle. The hurt wasn't quite as fresh and raw anymore, but there were some mornings where waking up to find the other side of her bed cold and unslept in still knocked her for six.

 

Matthias had been a constant support in her life since Owen's departure and Felicity was eternally grateful for his friendship — although their friendship had been growing less and less platonic by the day. Their drunken liaison had been the catalyst of _something_ , and while both of them appeared to be avoiding having the necessary conversation, they were simultaneously pushing the boundaries of what a typical friendship should be. Felicity spent a lot more time in Matthias' lab. Every morning she brought him tea. She'd slept over at his apartment on more than one occasion, usually falling asleep with her head on his shoulder as he pored over his research books into the dead of night. When Felicity was out on jobs, Faye would sometimes be surprised to hear Matthias' voice patched in to the conversation.

 

"Is that arcanist your new boyfriend?" Haluk had asked one day in the enclave. Faye's eyes had gone wide at his sudden query, but Felicity had been unfazed.

 

"No, of course not. We're friends."

 

Haluk's eyebrows knitted together as he considered her response. "But I mean, you're sleeping with him. That much is obvious. You know what, don't tell me, I _really_  don't wanna know."

 

"Wait, what? Absolutely not! Matthias and I have never even —"

 

"Can we _p_ _lease_  talk about something else?" came Faye's pleading voice and luckily, after a knowing smirk and a scoff from Haluk, the subject was dropped.

 

And while it was true that her and Matthias had shared nothing physical beyond a few kisses, Felicity couldn't help but feel deeply offended by Haluk's line of questioning.

 

Was it because he'd somehow hit a nerve? Absolutely. But Felicity wasn't prepared to admit that.

 

The Freelancer stepped back outside, grateful to be breathing some fresher air. She leaned against the Strider, her sore green eyes scanning her surroundings as she silently considered her next move.

 

She was tired. The thought of another sleepless night was pushing her on a descent into madness. 

 

"Wait —" Faye suddenly spoke with a gasp, piquing Felicity's attention.

 

"What is it, Faye?"

 

"I'm picking up a signal not far off your location. It's weak, but it's there. Could be worth checking out. I'll send you the coordinates."

 

Felicity closed the faceplate of her helmet back down, her pulse racing. "On my way."

 

The signal took her to a tall rocky alcove adjacent to a waterfall, and the ground was damp and muddy beneath the Freelancer's feet as she walked. The constant thundering gush of the waterfall was the only sound she could place, and she appeared to be entirely alone. There didn't even appear to be any evidence of recent activity — her footprints were the only ones, and as she ventured further in, all she could find was a huge pile of green and brown leaves. The colours stood out like a sore thumb amongst the wet ground.

 

Something wasn't right.

 

"Faye, are you sensing any other activity in the nearby area?" Felicity asked, glancing up as she surveyed her surroundings. There was a small opening in the rocks above her, letting in a tiny shred of light in the otherwise dark cave.

 

Faye's response was full of static and unintelligible.

 

"Faye?" Felicity frowned, her heart pounding in her chest. All her instincts were screaming at her to run.

 

Removing her pistol from the holster, she held it tightly in her hand as she took a step toward the pile of leaves, taking in a deep breath before delivering a hefty kick to the leaves with one leg. They went flying, swirls of green and brown in the air, and as they settled on the ground, she noticed it.

 

The leaves had been hiding a tiny radio device. Felicity scooped down to pick it up, her eyebrows knitted together as she inspected it.

 

More static came over her comm, and then Faye's voice suddenly fizzled back into coherence: " — closing in on your position, Freelancer!"

 

The sound of loud and fast footsteps suddenly filled Felicity's eardrums, and the Freelancer prepared herself for a battle. But as she spun around to view the culprit, she was greeted with the thud of a hefty weapon connecting with the side of her helmet, and everything faded to black as she landed on the rocky ground.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the long wait on this! I got super sidetracked, and the lack of Anthem content has been really killing me. Thank you so much for the love and kudos, it means so much!
> 
> I now have a Ko-Fi account, no pressure but if you can please buy me a coffee and help support this caffeine powered creator to continue doing what she loves:  
> <http://ko-fi.com/elemsee>
> 
> Hope you all enjoy this update! :)

Felicity's head was pounding.

As her eyes fluttered open, she swallowed, grimacing at the tangy taste of blood. Her surroundings were dark, dingy and foreign. Her entire body was shivering, and as she made an attempt to sit up, she realised she wasn't in her Javelin suit anymore.

_Where am I?_

She rubbed roughly at both her eyes with balled fists, and as her eyesight finally began to focus, she glanced around her, noticing the metal bars and suddenly realising — _I'm in a cell_.

"Faye? Faye, can you hear me?" Felicity's voice was a low rasp, coughing as the dryness of her mouth tickled her throat. The sound of her cough echoed around her, and she realised that her cell was in some sort of cave.

There was no response on her comm.

Felicity's eyes began to adjust to the low light of the cave, and as she looked around she noted that her cell was one of many. Most of them were empty. She shuffled around, straining her neck to survey the surroundings behind her, and saw more cells. One had a lifeless body inside it — the sight made her blood run cold. She glanced inside the cell next to it, the cell directly opposite hers, and noticed there was also a body inside — but this body was moving, breathing.

"H — Hello?" she whispered. The person didn't appear to hear her. She called again, this time a little louder, silently praying that her voice wasn't loud enough to rouse the attention of her kidnappers.

This time, the prisoner began to stir. Felicity pressed her face up against the bars of her cell, watching intently as they moved around. As they finally sat up and shuffled forward, Felicity caught a glimpse of their face — and her jaw went slack as her brain registered their identity.

"... Matthias?"

The colour drained from Felicity's face. It was definitely Matthias, that much was certain. But he was shirtless and missing his scarf, his face and body littered with cuts and bruises. His eyes were hooded as they met hers, an unmistakable emptiness in them that she'd never seen before.

All at once Matthias' eyes went wide, as though he'd suddenly realised whom he was looking at. "Felicity?" The arcanist sat up on his haunches as he continued to stare, disbelief written all over his battered face. A half-laugh escaped his lips — a cold, harsh sound that didn't sound like him at all. "I've finally gone crazy if I'm imagining you here."

"You're not imagining it, Matthias. It's really me."

Matthias cocked his head, studying her as he considered her response. He didn't seem convinced, and Felicity was frightened as she imagined what they could've possibly done to turn him into such a delirious mess.

"I know it's hard, but you have to believe me," she pleaded, "Listen to my voice. You know it's me."

He remained silent, eyeing the Freelancer cautiously. The poor man looked exhausted — it tore her heart in two.

Felicity considered that she wasn't faring much better, rubbing gently at the side of her head in a feeble attempt to dull the painful thumping.

"The Freelancer's the most badass woman I know. Scars wouldn't catch her without a fight."

_I mean, he's not wrong. There wasn't a fight. I got caught by a trap that even an anrisaur would fucking spot a mile off._ "Well, we all have our off days, Matti."

"W-W-Wait, what did you just say?"

Felicity frowned at his odd question, but repeated herself anyway. As she did, his eyes lit up.

"It is you. _Fuck_."

"What convinced you?"

"You called me Matti. Only a handful of people call me that, and most of them are dead. Unless this is a sick joke and I'm in the afterlife."

"If this is the afterlife, the Anthem's got a lot to answer for."

"But how did you even get here? Where's your Javelin?"

"Desperation and bad luck led me here. As for my Javelin, I can't answer that. I certainly didn't take it off by choice." Felicity sighed, her gaze softening as she looked at him. "I was worried about you, Matti. If I'd known sooner..."

"You had no way to know, Lis. I couldn't even contact you —" Matthias pointed at an ominous looking machine in the middle of the room. "— They've got some kind of signal jammer. Can't get any communications in or out down here."

"What even happened?" Felicity gave a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure they were still alone. "Who is holding us down here?"

"Scars, from what I can tell. I had met up with a few colleagues. We got ambushed. Two of them were shot dead, but Jacen and I —" Matthias gestured at the cell next to his, "— got brought here. Jacen doesn't seem to be doing too well right now."

Felicity eyed the arcanist cautiously. "Matthias... I think he might be dead."

Matthias shot her an unimpressed stare, as though she had just stated the obvious. Felicity raised her hands in mock surrender, turning her attention to the gate of her cell.

"Let's see how we're getting outta here," she mumbled.

Slowly she raised herself from the rocky ground beneath her, grasping onto the metal cell bars as her knees threatened to buckle. The sudden rush of blood to her head was briefly debilitating. The cell bars were cold against her forehead as she pressed it against them, her eyes losing focus as the room threatened to spin.

"Are you alright?" Matthias' voice sounded more distant than it had a minute earlier, and oddly tinny.

"I'm... I'm fine," came the Freelancer's stuttered response, her voice filled with a tinge of stubborn determination as she tried to will her body back into some sense of normality. _Get out of here first, Davri. You can collapse later._  "I just took a knock to the head earlier. But I'm fine." She wasn't sure whom she was trying harder to convince.

Clarity fizzled back into her eyesight once more. Felicity lifted up her face, knuckles ghost white as her hands kept a tight grip onto the bars.

A short inspection of the exterior of her cell, as far as she could see, proved that they had electronic locks and would be impossible to manipulate. The best hope of getting it open would simply be to get hold of the key — but the keyholder was nowhere to be found and even if they were, any chance of retrieving the key without causing a blazing fire fight would be slim to none.

Felicity longed to be back in her Javelin. Being out from behind the Fort walls without it left her feeling exposed and vulnerable. She boasted impressive hand to hand combat skills learned from her early days of Freelancer training, but those skills gave little defence against the searing brutality of point blank range rifle fire.

Simply put? There was no way out without help.

_Faye, you and Haluk better be looking for me._


End file.
